Puget Sound Ecological Burn Program

Within sight of the Capitol lies some of the last fragments of lowland prairie and oak woodlands in Western WA. Over the last 10 years, the Puget Sound Ecological Burn Program has brought together land managers and scientists to restore and protect the diverse wildlife and plants that call it home.

Landscape Scale Management

Although it doesn’t look like it today, fire-dependent lowland prairies once dominated the Puget Sound region, interspersed with oak woodlands and conifer forests. Years of habitat fragmentation, encroachment of invasive species, and lack of managed fire has reduced the extent of these ecologically important areas and impacted the wildlife that rely on them, including threatened and endangered species like the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly and streaked horned lark.

Today, the partners of the Puget Sound Ecological Burn Program and a diverse group of land managers restore these prairies through active ecological management on a large scale in the south Puget Sound region and the San Juan Islands. By connecting and sharing resources over the entire region, the partners overcome challenges and are able to use fire as an essential and necessary tool for restoration.

Prescribed burns take significant planning and coordination. The strong partnerships found in the Puget Sound Ecological Burn Program make ones like this burn on Johnson Prairie possible.

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A Puget Sound Ecological Burn Program crew establishes a blackline at Johnson Prairie. A blackline is a control line established using fire to strengthen containment of the main prescribed burn.

The crew listens as the Burn Boss gives the pre-burn briefing. These briefings include crew organization and assignment, current and future weather conditions, and objectives and plan for the upcoming burn.

The federally endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly is found only on limited prairie sites through Washington and Oregon. These butterflies rely on prairie flowers as larvae and nectar sources. The Puget balsamroot seen here is one such nectar source.

Prairie flowers are adapted to frequent fire and responded well after this burn on Glacial Heritage Preserve in Thurston County.

Oak woodlands like this were once much more abundant in the Puget Sound region. Land conversion and fire suppression have reduced the extent of these important and diverse ecosystems.

Crews apply fire to the understory of these oak woodlands to open up the canopy, promote native plant growth, and reduce invasives.

The streaked horned lark is a federally threatened bird that prefers open landscapes like the prairies and fields of the south Puget Sound region. Prescribed burning is used to maintain these prairies and keep plants relatively low and sparse, important habitat characteristics for larks.

Puget Sound Ecological Burn Program crew members maintain the fire line on a burn in a recently released oak savannah at Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve.

A Puget Sound Ecological Burn Program crew member burns part of the prairie that has been set aside as a research plot to answer questions about how variations in fire intensity affect butterfly habitat. Research such as this increases our understanding of how fire can help improve future management.

Prescribed burns take significant planning and coordination. The strong partnerships found in the Puget Sound Ecological Burn Program make ones like this burn on Johnson Prairie possible.

Many of the burners in this collaborative program are trained biologists. This approach ties research and management together to improve knowledge and create better outcomes.

Diverse Collaboration

The Puget Sound Ecological Burn Program is one of the most active prescribed burn programs in the state, burning around 50 to 60 days a year between spring and fall and often with multiple burn crews a day. Success is tied to diverse interests coming together to recognize the strength of collaboration, including multiple agencies, organizations, and landowners.

Land-Managing Partners in the Puget Sound Ecological Burn Program include:

Center for Natural Lands Management
Joint Base Lewis McChord
The Nature Conservancy
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Washington Department of Natural Resources
Wolf Haven International
Pacific Rim Institute
Whidbey-Camano Land Trust

Visit South Sound Prairies to learn more.